The 52 Weeks of Daysleeping - week 25 "Development" Reshoot

Daysleeper40

Daysleeper40

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Yep, thats right, I've jumped on the 52 bandwagon in the hope that it will challange me to improve my photography. Wish me luck!

Week 1 Theme - Reflection

In an attempt to get creative with this weeks theme I thought about the different meanings of reflection which led me to reflect on myself and how I've changed over the years. I used to be very creative - I took theatre studies A Level, enjoyed creative writing, and for years wanted to find a career in some kind of creative sphere. So now I find myself reflecting on why that didn't happen and most importantly - when the hell did I stop writing poetry?

Don't worry, I'm not going to inflict my own poetry on you but it did remind me of this poem by R.S Thomas that inspired my first photograph of The 52 Weeks of 2009:

Looking Glass

There is a game I play
with a mirror, approaching
it when I'm not there,
as though to take by suprise

the self that is my familiar. It
is in vain. Like one eternally
in ambush, fast or slow
as I may raise my head, it raises

its own, catching me in the act,
disarming me by acquaintance,
looking full into my face as often
as I try to look at it askance.

Week1-Reflection080109.jpg

In keeping with the theme both images are of my own reflection in a mirror. Not technically great but I'm glad I could start with a self portrait to introduce myself.

If you made it to the end thanks for reading - and welcome to the 52 Weeks of Daysleeping...
 
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Not technically bad either. Right hand pic is a little soft in comparison to the left hand one, not that it spoils the overall image though. Good luck with your 52, I will follow with great interest.
 
fabs said:
Not technically bad either. Right hand pic is a little soft in comparison to the left hand one, not that it spoils the overall image though. Good luck with your 52, I will follow with great interest.
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Thankyou - it is the first time I have tried to take a picture of myself (let alone a picture of my own reflection) and I found it suprisingly tricky!
 
Daysleeper40 said:
Thankyou - it is the first time I have tried to take a picture of myself (let alone a picture of my own reflection) and I found it suprisingly tricky!
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Indeed it isn't. Just trying to get the focus right can be hell at first. Just keep practising.
 
That's a very clever idea and I like the thought that has clearly gone in to this with the poetry, very deep.

As part of my work behind my own Week 1 shot I've also done a self portrait in the mirror (not sure yet if any one will see it) and I appreciate the difficulty involved.

If you had a third image you could put this as a Triptych in the Jan POTY comp too :D

Looking forward to the remaining 51 weeks
 
SimonTALM said:
That's a very clever idea and I like the thought that has clearly gone in to this with the poetry, very deep.

As part of my work behind my own Week 1 shot I've also done a self portrait in the mirror (not sure yet if any one will see it) and I appreciate the difficulty involved.

If you had a third image you could put this as a Triptych in the Jan POTY comp too :D

Looking forward to the remaining 51 weeks
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Thanks - I'm impressed at how much this weeks theme made me think - and it's always good to try something new (y)

Isn't one of the rules that we can't use the same image from our 52 in the POTY comp?? You aren't suggesting I cheat in my first week are you! :cautious:
 
:agree:

Good luck with the next 51. Our brain's are getting a workout as well as everything else with this. I'm used to working at the slower pace of the monthly competition so I feel I'm entering warp speed with this!
 
jeangenie said:
Love your interpretation of the theme. The images illustrate the poem beautifully. Look forward to seeing next week's. :)

Jean
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Bruja said:
:agree:

Good luck with the next 51. Our brain's are getting a workout as well as everything else with this. I'm used to working at the slower pace of the monthly competition so I feel I'm entering warp speed with this!
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Thankyou both - I enjoyed the first week and now we have the theme the challange is on for week 2. Only problem is that I'm currently devoid of ideas! :thinking:
 
:plus1: Like the others have said great interpretation, good images and the poetry. A lot of effort and very successful.
 
Well here is my effort for week 2 - History.

I'm not at all happy with it but sadly have run out of time. I wanted to get some shots of Reading Abbey which is a large ruined Abbey in the centre of my home town. Unfortunately it has not been well looked after and I arrived to find most of looking like this:

P1040209.jpg


A recent survey has deemed the majority of it unsafe. I was left with a very limited amount of the Abbey that is still open to the public :(

Still, here is my effort - I tried a bit of B&W processing which is something I havn't really done before. C&C welcome:

P1040208.jpg
 
A great shame that this building is not being looked after as it should. However, it will probably still be standing longer than the modern building of similar shape that's been put up behind it.
 
My first thought on this was that the new building in the background had been borne out of the old one in the foreground. So, although you couldn't get the shot you wanted, I think this has a lovely quality of 'old' and 'new'. Hope that makes sense and I hope I've conveyed that I like it a lot.

Well done on the b&w conversion, too. :)

Jean
 
Thanks for the comments guys - much appreciated (y)

Well if anything I found week three even more difficult than week two - I have been completely bereft of ideas all week apart from the obvious self portrait of me reading a manual etc.

In the end I have come up with this: all together now,

"A is for _____, B is for ____, C is for ___ ..."

Week3-Learning.jpg


(A special mention must go to my beautiful model Spike)
 
Only just found this thread, don't know why... A superb set of three shots. Reflection and History have worked well. Tricky subjects all 3. It took me a moment to work out Learning, but I got it. Good idea.
 
Wow that just knocks your socks off for impact...:clap:

Love that photo...:love:

and well done Spike....cat nip all around I think...(y)
 
Thankyou all - It's really encouraging to get some positive comments as I was not at all sure myself.

I think I have taken it at ISO 200 with onboard flash for some obscure reason :bang: I'm sure I could have done better if I'd given it a bit more time but I really didn't have a lot of inspiration this week and had actually hit crisis point when this idea struck me!

Spike has been suitably rewarded so you never know - he might agree to model for me again sometime... and with work this this he commands pretty hefty fee's I can tell you!

P1040308.jpg


P1040321.jpg
 
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Clever, clever, clever! That is a stroke of genius and a fantastic bright punchy image :)

Love it!
 
Great interpretation. When I first saw the image I though you'd been joining images in photoshop, but when I saw the 2nd and 3rd shots it's clear you've been working really hard on this one and for that I admire you (I think I would have gone for the photoshopping expedition)

You say that if you had more time for this one you could do better, what do you think you would you do differently to improve on it?
 
Thankyou Dark Star - I love that you love it! (y)

Simon - looking at it again today I am actually happier with it than I was yesterday but I do think that:

a) Should have paid more attention to camera settings. I had been pratting about taking pics of my qualification certificates (my only other idea - it didn't work!) and I didn't bother changing anything for the new set up apart from using the flash. I think I could have done with a smaller aperture and setting the ISO to 100.

b) Need to think of idea sooner so I can gather more interesting props / try different poses & lighting / could have had more sessions with Spike as his attention span is about 5 minutes before he has to have a catnap.

c) I should have cleaned Spikes eyes to get rid of the goo.

d) Today I'm thinking it would be fun to do the whole alphabet with random props... does anyone have a xylophone I can borrow?

Having said all that I am actually just thrilled to have come up with an idea and managed to get a shot that some people seem to like :D
 
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That shot has great impact - right in your face
I'm not sure about the letters overlay, it would be more fun to have us work it out!

Definitly shows you've been working hard on this one, your feline model loows rather payful too :)
 
RichardtheSane said:
That shot has great impact - right in your face
I'm not sure about the letters overlay, it would be more fun to have us work it out!

Definitly shows you've been working hard on this one, your feline model loows rather payful too :)
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Thanks Richard - I debated the letters for a while and decided that without it was just a bit too ambiguous re the theme.
 
What a fantastic shot, and a great looking cat too (y) and a clever twist on the theme :clap::clap:

Sorry I missed the History one, I really like the black and white conversion and the way the new building mirrors the old one. Great capture :clap::clap:
 
That's great, a totally different idea for Learning. Really vibrant and interesting.

I know what you mean about the gunk in his eyes. Its something that I often forget when photographing the rescue dogs and I invariably end up cloning it out afterwards.
 
It's a great close up and I didn;t notice the gunk until it was mentioned :LOL::LOL::LOL:
 
Week 4 - Surprise!

Terrible lack of imagination / creativity this week I'm afraid - this was a real tough one! Still I have a taken a photo... and here it is:

Week4-Surprise.jpg


Things I learnt -

1. It's very difficult trying to take a pic of a party popper popping.
2. I'm still not good at white backgrounds.
3. Must try harder!

Thanks for looking,

DS (y)
 
I think its a great idea and just a whisker away from being a great shot.

Better luck with how it popped might have done it, or perhaps a faster shutter speed.

Great effort though.
 
Thats got some ooomph DS, colourwise and actionwise :)

Nice simple composition that does the job too :)

Good shot imho! :clap:
 
Thanks all - just the one bag of party poppers used but that does mean I'll need to get some more for my nephews birthday party next weekend...
 
Well done you....:clap:

I tried this one but mine was rubbish...like all my shot for this subject.:LOL:
 
The canister is great, colourful, sharp and the line of the streamers makes it a great composition maybe as Hyster says a faster shutter speed would have caught it but then the DoF problems. Really well done!:clap::clap:
 
(y)
Well executed effort - I'm not sure I would even have attempted that knowing how quick those damn things go off.
Yes, it would have been nice to see the streamers in focus but looking at it again I think the movement of them is rather good.
 
I like that, I can believe it was really hard to get a good shot of it... you did well (y)
 
Phew, well done on that one :clap::clap:. I had thought about doing that myself and thought no way Jose :eek:

I love the strong diagonal and the sharpness of the container. The way the DoF is set up gives it a surreal look as though they were dissolving into smoke. Excellent capture (y):clap:
 
Very colourful and well timed (y)
 
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